Saturday, September 1, 2007

6th Graders

Well, week 2 of school is over, and we only have... how many weeks?

Maybe I don't want to think about that.

Now that the kids are feeling more comfortable, I'm starting to get to know them, and the routine is becoming more like my established one, I am thrilled to be back in school, aside from the obvious reasons (like I can't sleep in).

I forget just how much fun 6th graders are, especially when they're new 6th graders. Most of them have not turned 12 yet, but are coming up on their birthdays. They still have that underlying sweetness that I love so much about them.

At the end of last year, my wonderfully sweet 6th graders start turning into 7th graders, which are not nearly as much fun, nor nearly as sweet. They start developing attitude, the emotional drama goes through the roof (Oh, my gosh! Did you hear that Josh just broke up with Sarah! Oh, I know! I thought they would be together forever!!), and they begin to stop doing their homework, because it's just not cool to do homework every night.

So I was looking forward to getting back to school, but every year you forget about how wonderful the kids are and how much fun I find them and how much I love them.

It does work out, though, because by the time they start changing in attitude to be more like 7th graders, I have forgotten how they behave. Oh, well.

Anyway, back to what I originally started out to say.

The kids are so much fun! They are all working hard at whatever task I've assigned them (except for one of my advanced classes, who seem to have a chronic talking issue that we'll have to work on), and the only complaints I've heard was just from yesterday's class, because it was the first time we've taken notes.

One of the things people tend not to like about 6th graders is how whiny they are. And I won't deny it... they are still very young, and consequently pretty whiny.

So not hearing:

-WHY do we have to do this AGAIN today? We did this same thing yesterday! (about our daily grammar practice)

-Why do we HAVE to do homework every night??

-Do I have to do all the questions on this paper? But there is 12 questions! Well, do I have to answer in complete sentences??

-What do you mean I have to take notes? What are notes? Well, if I try really hard and remember everything you say, can I skip writing them down?

And more of the same is a novel concept. But I began to hear little whispers of this sort of thing on Friday. Ahhh... the "honeymoon period" is over. They are starting to be comfortable, and therefore comfortable expressing their opinions.

Cute/Funny/Sweet Things I've Seen Since School Started:

  • One little boy has yet (and this is 2 weeks in!) to attend the right class on his first try. We call around to all of our team teachers when he's supposed to be with us, so we can get him sent to us. So sweet! He's just so confused...
  • The new fashions this year seem heavy on bright colors, and as many of them as possible, and polka dots. One of my girls was wearing everything polka-dotted, all of them black and white... I mean, her headband, earrings, necklace, shirt, undershirt, skirt, leggings, and her shoes. Oh! And her SOCKS. I was amazed.
  • One of my classes has separated themselves completely into boys and girls, with no mixing. It's so cute! They're still at the stage where the opposite sex has cooties.
  • The kids are really worried about lunch, because they're afraid they won't find it, won't know which line to be in, won't have enough money... it's very sweet.
  • One of our kids has 11 classes. Now, there is only supposed to be 6 classes per child, but he has 11. I told him to choose where he wanted to go... then sent him to guidance so they'd fix his schedule.
  • Another one of our kids is on three teams. It is very rare for a child to have more that one team, and only then for extreme circumstances... but she has 3. They said they'd change it this week coming up, so we'll see.

I know there is more crazy things that happened, but I have forgotten them... Oh, well. I'm sure I think of them later.

In the meantime, remember this: 6th graders are so much fun!

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